Bali hotels help Lombok win back foreign tourists

Bali hotels help Lombok win back foreign tourists

By I Wayan Juniarta

DENPASAR (JP): Over the past few weeks, several major hotels
in Bali have helped promote tourism in neighboring Lombok, which
went back to square one in the wake of anti-Christian rioting in
January.

The Balinese hotels want to help tourism recover in Lombok by
offering holiday packages to both islands.

Lombok's tourism was devastated when rioting forced thousands
of frightened Christians, foreign tourists and Chinese
Indonesians to flee the island. Hotels reported a zero occupancy
rate for weeks afterwards.

Hotel Sheraton Nusa Indah in Nusa Dua, Bali, for example,
helps out by offering holiday packages provided by Sheraton
Senggigi in Lombok. Sheraton Senggigi cut its room rate to Rp
350,000 per night from the normal Rp 750,000.

International travel agents get a free one night stay and have
to pay only US$65 for each following night. Foreign tourists
traveling with travel agents are offered free dinner during their
stay at Sheraton Senggigi.

"We are seeing the occupancy rate rise," said Lisa Halim, the
communications director for Sheraton Nusa Indah. "Two weeks ago
Sheraton Senggigi's occupancy rate was only 3 percent, but now it
has risen to 15 percent to 20 percent. More foreign tourists have
queried about going to Lombok."

Brany F. Dewi, the guest relations manager of Novotel Tanjung
Benoa, Bali, also expressed a similar optimism. He said the
occupancy rate of Novotel Kute in Lombok had risen from 3 percent
to 12 percent thanks to the various packages the two hotels had
jointly promoted.

The two Novotels offer a package called Bali-Lombok Rhapsody.
Room rates are reduced by up to 40 percent and guests get a 20
percent discount for the buffet dinner, drinks and spa treatment.
They also get souvenirs from the hotels.

Guests who stay at Novotel Tanjung Benoa, Bali, and Novotel
Kute, Lombok, for a total period of at least four days are
entitled to a free Lombok-Bali trip by Mabua Express ferry, Brany
said.

The cooperation among hotels of the same group was spurred out
of the concern that Bali and Lombok are interconnected.

"When rioting broke out in Lombok, Bali also bore the brunt.
It is the close proximity that makes us stick together," Lisa
said.

The reverse is also true. When political rioting hit Bali last
October, tourism in Lombok was also affected.

The cooperation between hotels on the two islands was
established in the wake of Bau Nyale, a traditional ritual in
Lombok on Feb. 25. The ceremony on the beach usually attracts
huge crowds of tourists.

This year the ceremony, although watched by much less
tourists, proceeded as usual. West Nusa Tenggara Governor Harun
Al Rasyid took part in one of the ceremonies to show that the
island was safe.

Tourism has gradually returned to Lombok. Djodi S. Soesilo,
chief of the West Nusa Tenggara tourism office, attributed it to
several countries lifting the travel advisory. The countries he
mentioned were The Netherlands, Germany, Australia and the United
States.

Four other countries advised their citizens against visiting
Lombok in the wake of the Jan. 17 rioting in the capital of
Mataram and the surrounding area. They were Taiwan, Japan, Italy
and Switzerland.

Many applauded the recent hotel managers' decision to move the
venue of their conference of Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 from Lampung to
Lombok -- a move which intended to show the world that Lombok was
safe.

The media campaign, aimed at assuring the world that Lombok is
peaceful, will intensify in the near future. This week, the West
Nusa Tenggara provincial government is scheduled to invite tour
operators and journalists for that purpose.

Some hotels in Lombok have also planned to invite foreign
travel writers and journalists to see Lombok for themselves. The
government will also send a delegation to an international
conference in Berlin this month to boost the tourism campaign.

Djodi said he was optimistic that if the campaign succeeds,
tourism in Lombok would recover in two to three months.

"This month, we expect 800 tourists to come to Lombok on a
cruise ship," he said.

Tourism has become West Nusa Tenggara's economic backbone.
Djodi reckoned that about 8,000 people depend on this sector for
their livelihood, and another 50,000 indirectly benefit from the
business. It is the largest income earner for West Lombok regency
and the second largest for the West Nusa Tenggara province.